I finally have created a dedicated studio style setup for my reviews and other videos. If you like the look that I achieved in the above video, you’ll find this blog post very useful. All the links to the products in this guide are marked in red colour and also can all be found together at the bottom of the post. My goal was to achieve a minimalistic, low-key look with a soft, but interesting lighting that would make me and the objects I have on the table really stand out from the background. More importantly the task was to achieve the look at the lowest budget possible. Lucky for me I had most of the things I needed already, but I will share some options with you to help you create similar setup. Disclaimer (could be boring): You can find the items I’ve used both on Amazon and on Ebay and some even in your local hardware store, but for this guide I will use Amazon links. If you will buy anything that I’ve included in this guide through my links, a small percentage of sale will go my way. This way you’ll be able to help me run the website and produce more useful content by buying what you need. It will not cost you a penny more to buy them through my links, in fact I try to find the best deals, so if anything it will cost you less. So back to this guide: First of is a monitor, which is not essential, but is very useful. As I mentioned in the video I used an old Liliput monitor. I generally like Liliput Monitors and have 2 myself. A similar to one I’ve used only costs just under $170. To be honest I’m not a big fan of the particular model, but it more than suitable for this sort of project. If you don’t have an HDMI monitor yet and want one for everything I would advice going for 5D-II/O/P model, which works great with DSLRs, has peeking, zebras, false color and even a histogram, all for just under $270. Now this is a great deal. Next up we have a backdrop. There are loads of options for backdrops, starting from under $20. The size that I have costs just under $18. 6x10 works great for me and will work fine for anyone wanting a similar framing. I’ve already had some light stands, anything up to 6ft high will do the . If you have them already, then you will only need to buy an extending cross bar for the stands. The cheapest I found is $20. If you don’t have any stands yet, then it’s worth buying a complete backdrop support instead. It will work out cheaper than buying the stand and a cross bar separately. The cheapest backdrop support I found is just under $35. To secure the backdrop well, just get some cheap plastic clamps, which run for under $5 for a set of 6. Now you need some back lights. There are plenty of options on Amazon. I even found the light I’m using for my setup. It’s a Smith-Victor KT-500U kit (2x250w lights). There are plenty of other alternatives too (see below), all costing just around $100. Moving no to the key light. For my setup I’m using a Camtree BeamLite 72 Flood because it’s quite powerful and I have it already. To achieve similar soft lighting you don’t have to get the same light and a diffuser. As an alternative would recommend one of many fluorescent softbox lights. The choice for these is massive, but I would recommend going for something more powerful, definitely no less than 1000w. One of the best deals that I found is ePhoto 2000w light kit, which comes together with 2 heads, 2 stands, 2 saltboxes, 10 bulbs and even a carry case for the stands. All this for under $130 is pretty amazing considering that 3 times less powerful kit for the back light costs nearly the same. Here is another alternative for just over $100. This is about all you need to create this complete setup, assuming you already have some soft of table, chair if you like to sit and obviously a camera. The whole thing should cost you more than $500 and these are the things that you will be able these for you other projects, especially the lights and the monitor. The actual backdrop support and the cloth is no more than $50, so definitely something worth investing into is you are after a similar look. I hope this guide was useful to you guys. Any questions, feel free to ask.

This follow focus is quite unique thanks to its flexible L shaped bracket. The only similar follow focus that I know is the D-focus, which doesn’t really offer anything more than this RJ unit. I wanted to try it just to see how it would feel and I was impressed with the size and feel of the whole setup. To me the gearbox of my particular unit is a bit disappointing, but as I said in the video, the gearbox performance varies; so some of you might have better luck with it.

I bought mine a while ago and while I was looking up the ebay link for this write-up, I found out that this FF now comes with both L-shaped bracket and the standard 15mm rod fitting mount, which is absolutely amazing. No other FF offers you both mounting options, although the L-shaped adapter could be adapter to many other FFs. Someone should start selling them separately.

Anyway, if you’re about to buy your first follow focus and don’t yet have your 15mm rod setup, I think this FF could be the one to go for. When you decided to buy your 15mm rod system you’ll still be able to use this FFs with it, which is very cool.

The Filmcity X1 follow focus is currently one of the cheapest FFs you can get on eBay and just about anywhere really. I wanted to see what’s it feels like, so I bought one. I wasn’t expecting it to be the best follow focus in the world, although I always hope that the next follow focus I get will be the one.

Well, the X1 is a nice follow focus, one that you would expect to be over £200 just a few years ago. In fact it’s virtually the same as my Camtree Follow Focus, which I bought for over £200 just about 2 years ago. It has the same marking disc, same 360 degree adjustable pointer, similar mounting system (probably both were made by the same manufacturer). While I still prefer my good old Camtree, the X1 offers so much for such a low price. Although the gearbox has some play (similar amount to similarly priced, but simpler RJ and probably less than Fotga DP500, which another really cheap option).

The fact that you get the whip and the lens gear on top of all the cool features gives this follow focus the edge over the similarly priced units.

Although I decided not to keep mine (I don’t need more than one FF anyway), I do recommend it to people who on a really low budget or/and just buying their first follow focus.

If you think, this might not be the one for you, make sure to check out my Follow Focus Buyers Guide for more great value for money options.

Matte Boxes are very useful accessories for film-making. They can help minimize the any unwanted flares and most have filter holders for 4x4 filters, which are used to enhance the image in many different ways.

A few years back Matte Boxes used to cost a fortune, and there was a very little choice on the budget side. There ware just a few Indian ones, that would cost way too much due to the lack of competition from other brands. The things have changed. Nowadays there is so much to choose from with the prices starting under $20/£15.

I’ve decided it’s time to do a bit of a research and put together a Matte Box Buyer’s Guide with all the best deals on eBay. Below you will see all matte boxes I decided to include, starting from the cheapest ending with the most expensive, rounding up with my personal recommendations and conclusions. I haven’t included every single Matte Box on Ebay, but only the ones that I personally think deserve a place in this guide. Value for money varies, but even the most expensive ones are still great deals if you think about choice and prices even 2 years ago. I decide not to go above $500/£300 mark, because there is so much choice for less.

The cheapest matte box on eBay is sold by delight-digi. You’ll see it all over ebay, but this is the absolute cheapest deal I found. The price is simply incredible, although the matte box is pretty cheap and very basic. It is made out of cheap plastic and doesn’t have any filter holders. The flags are a bit weird and basic too, but they work. I actually used this MB couple of times when shooting with someone else’s camera and I was actually able get rid of some nasty flares that were hitting the lens, so if you are only starting out and don’t have money for a better MB this is well worth the money, it’s just can’t get any cheaper than this.

The next cheapest MB I decided to include is sold by pell678. This is a decent looking MB, with decent French flags. Unlike the one above which requires a set of 15mm rods, this MB is fitted directly to the camera lens. This can be a great feature for people who don’t have any rods or/and like to keep their setup minimal. The biggest feature of this matte box, is that is accepts a Cokin P type filters rather than 4x4. Cokin P are much cheaper than 4x4, so it is a very good option for someone on a tight budget.

Next MB worth mentioning is Filmcity M-2. This is where we start to get into more traditional look and design. This MB looks like a perfect match for a DSLR. It’s lightweight and has one 4x4 filter holder, unfortunately not rotatable. I think it’s probably the best MB for under $150/£100 though.

Next up is Proaim V-11. Now I’ve never been a fan of Proaim and personally don’t have anything from this brand, but this matte box seems to offer a decent amount of features for the money. It has 2 4x4 filter holders that can be rotated, by 180 degrees, but only together, still better than no rotation. On a downside, there is only a top flag.

Next is another Proaim MB, but this one is completely different to V-11. The Proaim MB-700 is a proper matte box, with proper French flags, interchangeable masks, 2 filter holders (1 is rotating) and plenty of doughnuts. One of the nice advantages of this MB over others is that it can be used both on 15mm rods and clipped on directly to the front of the lens.

Moving on to Chinese stuff now; for under $300/£200 you can now get a high-end style MB from Konovacamera with all the features one might wish for. These include a swing-away arm (really good for a quick lens swap), 2x 360 degree rotating 4x4 and 4x5.65 filter holders (each filter rotates independently), 4 donuts, adjustable flags and a few other accessories. At this price, such package is rather impressive.

Stepping just over $300/£200 we are coming back to an Indian MB, probably made my Proaim, this one is called MB-900. This one like the one above has a swing-away arm, flags, 9 donuts (that’s a lot) and 3 filter holders (2 fixed 4x5.65 & 1 rotating 4x4), flags. This is pretty much everything one could wish for. My only complaint is that one 1 filter holder is rotating, but for a lot of people that might not be a problem at all. This MB one of a few that can be used with bigger cine size lenses (lenses with front element up to 105mm)

Next up is a Trusmt D100MB2. This is a matte box that I bought myself some time ago. This is a one very cool MB, especially the CF version with Carbon Fiber flags. There is also a cheaper AL version with standard aluminum flags. Like some other MBs above it has a swing away arm and 2x 360 degree independently rotating 4x4 filter holders and a set of 4 donuts. The built quality is really good and at the time when I bought it, it offered absolutely the best value for money. But very recent addition of MBs like the one from Konovacamera the Trusmt MB doesn’t seem to offer such a great value. If Konovacamera MB is as good quality as Trusmt, then there is really not much that can justify the price difference. However if you don’t want to risk and just get a quality MB for under $500/£300, then the D100BM2-CF could be a great choice for you.

For virtually the same price as Trusmt you could get the Cinematics MB. This a very cool looking MB with most of the features found in Trusmt D100MB2, except the CF flags and only it only has 1 rotating filter holder (the other is fixed). But it has it’s own interesting features. The first interesting feature of this MB is that it has a mount for bottom flag (I think it even comes with an extra flag); don’t know if it is a useful feature, but an interesting one. Also, the swing-away arm design is quite unusual but actually is really cool and I’m not sure why it’s not found in other MBs. Basically with all standard swing-away arms the arm is fixed on one side only, so the other side (usually the left one) is not fixed to anything, which can result in some unwanted movement when camera is moved with a lot of force. With Cinematics MB, the swing-away arm is fixed on one side, but locked on the other side, so there is no chance of any movement when the MB is locked. Also unlike the standard swing-away arms which hold all the weight and pressure on one arm, this one is supported on both sides, so there is much less chance that such arm will break. I think it is a great feature and it certainly stands out.

It is really difficult to recommend just one matte box, because like with the other gear it is all about your budget. The ones that stand out to me include the cheapest one sold by delight-digi, the price is just crazy and if you are just starting out and are on a very low budget you can still afford one of this and start to get familiar with the use of a matte box. If you have a bit more money, then the Filmcity M-2 is a great little MB. The other MB that really stands to me is the one by konovacamera and identical ones sold by other sellers. These MBs offer a very good value for money and have all the features one might wish for.

I hope this guide was useful to you and will help you save some money on your gear.

_Welcome to my BIG LED GUIDE (Second Edition). The main reason for making a new edition on my now 3 months old B.L.G (First Edition) is because I bought one of the lights I used to recommend the most and unfortunately it turned out to be crap, so the whole guide had to be changed, because all the similar lights got scraped from the guide. Some others are not available any more and I’ve added a few new ones. Overall, I think the Second Edition is much better than the first and it also has all the latest prices and best deals at the time of writing. Hope you’ll find it useful.

_LED Into: LED lights are really “hot” nowadays. They are lightweight, heat-free, low on power consumption and also quite cheap, making them great value for money. I’m a big fan a I have a few myself. The cheapest around come from China, Honk Kong and India. A lot of them seem to be exactly the same, just branded under different names. I’ve now tried quite a few, so I can recommend, some others should be avoided.How this guide works: You will find links for every light below (everything in red or just click the picture). Some are general search links, others specific links of the best priced deal I found at the time of writing. Chances are that some of the listings will end by the time you read this, so just do a search on the particular shop to see if it got relisted the item or search for similar elsewhere on Ebay.I haven’t tried all of these lights, so my guide is mostly based on features and prices as well as my personal experience on the ones I tried and also the advice from other filmmakers. Treat this guide as a starting point and make your own decision depending on what you need.